UARS Satellite Tracking Update: ‘Space Junk’ Continues Path to Fall back and Crash on Earth – Current data predicts re-entry Imminent

According to the most recent NASA update on the status of the UARS satellite currently falling back to the Earth, at 10:30PM Eastern on Sept. 23, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 85 miles by 90 miles (135 km by 140 km). Currently the agency is predicting that the satellite will re-enter the atmosphere between 11:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, and 12:45 a.m., Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time (3:45 a.m. to 4:45 a.m. GMT).

The UARS, now considered ‘space junk’, will be passing over Canada and Africa at the time of re-entry as well as vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. NASA currently assesses the risk to public safety is very remote.

As previously reported:

Real time tracking is available at www.n2yo.com, but be warned that the site has been down due to the volume of requests recently. Realtime tracking of the International Space Station (ISS) and other orbiting satellites is also available from NASA at: http://science.nasa.gov/realtime-tracking/.

NASA will continue to track and monitor the satellite and will continue to refine its location for of re-entry as the final plunge back to Earth nears. The UARS has been in orbit for nearly six years on its mission of scientific study. While much of the satellite will burn up in the atmosphere, as it begins to collide with particles of atmosphere at over 17,000 miles per hour, some parts will fall to the surface of the Earth.

NASA will continue to post updates with greater frequency. Now less than a day away, satellite re-entry updates will be issued at the 12-hour, 6-hour and then at 2-hour prior to crashing back to Earth. Updates are issued from the Joint Space Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., which is tasked with tracking the hundreds of satellites and debris which currently orbits our planet.

Officials caution that if you find something you think may be a piece of UARS, that you should not touch it, but instead should contact local law enforcement.